From: Housing, Organizing, & Movement Empowerment Society
Date: January 14, 2025
Subject: HOMES - 01/14 Newsletter


Hi, everyone!


Good morning, and happy Tuesday! We hope you all got to spend time with your loved ones and celebrate the new year! As always, one great way to get involved and stay connected is by joining City Life/Vida Urbana at their weekly tenant organizing meetings. This week is especially a great time to go since your workload will likely never be this low again until the summer. City Life is a 50+ year-old grassroots organization fighting for racial, social, and economic justice through direct action, coalition building, education, and advocacy. They hold meetings every Tuesday (in English) in Jamaica Plain and every Wednesday (in Spanish) in East Boston to build community and inform people about their housing rights. 

Let us know if you have any transportation concerns, and we can help. The BU Public Interest Law Society pro bono transportation reimbursement form can be found here. If you'd like to attend a meeting with members of HOMES this week, please fill out the Google form below!

Weekly Sign Up for City Life/Vida Urbana Meetings

Spring Break 2025 Pro Bono Border Trip
The Immigration Law and Policy Society, Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, and Career Development Office are excited to partner with Al Otro Lado to organize a Spring Break Pro Bono Service Trip to Tijuana, Mexico! During the trip, students will conduct Know Your Rights presentations, assist with legal screenings, and provide critical support to migrants at the border. This opportunity is open to all students, find more information on the border trip and apply here. The application deadline is January 26th, 2025 by 11:59 pm.

The People's State of the Commonwealth: Family Homelessness
Join us before Governor Healey's State of the Commonwealth speech to show support for children and families experiencing homelessness. We will be calling on the Legislature to provide needed supplemental funding for shelter, rehousing support, and services. State leaders need to invest in children and families and stop the cuts to Emergency Assistance Shelter. The rally will take place on Thursday, January 16th from 12:00 pm to 1:00 pm in front of the State House, 24 Beacon Street, Boston. For more information and RVSP: https://tinyurl.com/ea-event-rsvp.


Join Northeastern University School of Law's Abolition Learning Zone
On Thursday, January 16th at 6:00 pm, join Northeastern Law's latest installment of the Abolition in Praxis series, where they will host a reading group and film screening on some of the world's most impactful and controversial resistance movements centering around the theme "When Liberation is Unpopular." From the Haitian revolution to Indigenous sovereignty, we'll be discussing some of the most impactful yet unpopular struggles for liberation around the world as we cover all things resistance movements. A list of some pieces that will guide our discussion is available through the QR code. Find more information here.

“Where Do We Go From Here?” Choosing Community Over Chaos
Join the ACLU of Massachusetts, Embrace Boston, the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts, and the NAACP Mystic Valley in honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King. Through a powerful gathering on Boston Common on Friday, January 17th at 12:00 pm, we will reflect on Dr. King’s vision of justice, equality, and unity. Let’s come together to celebrate the enduring impact of Dr. King’s work and explore how we can collectively move forward to build stronger, more inclusive communities. Find out more information here.


Boston DSA Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Meeting
Join the Boston DSA on Friday, January 17th at 6:30 pm for their first official Jamaica Plain DSA Neighborhood Group organizing meeting! "For the past several months, we have been building relationships in the neighborhood and building connections with each other. At this inaugural organizing meeting, we'll discuss our goals as a neighborhood group and strategy for organizing in our community." Food will be provided, and there will be a social afterward! RSVP at bdsa.us/JPDSA. Find out more information here.

GBTU General Meeting - Jamaica Plain
Join the Greater Boston Tenants Union for the Jamaica Plain Branch's general meeting this Saturday, January 18th! The meeting will take place at 1:00 pm at the Jamaica Plain branch of the BPL (30 South St, JP). Bring a friend, bring a roommate! Find out more information here.

Arise and Resist: Organizing for Peace and Justice Under Repression
Join the Jewish Voice for Peace Boston, Boston DSA, Massachusetts Peace Action, and more for a conference on Sunday, January 19th from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm at the Roxbury Community College Media Arts Center (1234 Columbus Ave). "The purpose of this conference is to bring together a mass movement and situate ourselves in our political reality of repression in the US and genocide in Gaza and creeping annexation in the West Bank.  We must work in alliance to build a society based on solidarity, peace and justice. Our work, based here in Massachusetts, will be shaped by national and international developments.  We are holding this conference before the inauguration so we can prepare for the crises we will face after January 20." Register here, and find out more information here.

Combating Imperialism, Defending Sovereignty: Zone of Peace in Haiti and the Americas
Join the Black Alliance for Peace on Sunday, January 19th for a "critical webinar exploring the multifaceted tools of imperialism and their impact on the Americas. This discussion will unpack how sanctions, soft power mechanisms like the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and USAID, militarization, and global banking systems are weaponized to uphold U.S. power and undermine sovereignty across the region. Panelists will analyze the historical and contemporary roles these tools play in destabilizing governments, fostering dependency, and suppressing popular people’s movements for self-determination, highlighting resistance strategies and pathways to combat imperialism and defend sovereignty while building solidarity among peoples and nations in the Americas." Register here, and find out more information here.

Boston: We Fight Back!
On Inauguration Day, January 20th, join the Boston Party for Socialism and Liberation at 1:00 pm in Boston Common (Parkman Bandstand) to "demand a future that centers the needs of the people over the interests of the wealthy elite! Raise your voice for workers’ rights, immigrant rights, and environmental justice. We demand an end to the genocide in Gaza, the U.S. war machine, and the rule of billionaires!" More information can be found here.

Here are some more upcoming events that might be of interest to you all:

We hope you all have an amazing semester! The road ahead will not be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is. Remember, you are not alone. 

In solidarity,

BU HOMES
Boston University School of Law
Greg Bowe, Co-President
Danna Lopez-Flores, Co-President
Angel Yi, Treasurer
Chloe Buck, Secretary
Zoie Valencia, Community Liaison
Thomas Hontz, Education & Training Lead
Will Kleisner, Substantive Law Specialist
Eliza Thorpe, Outreach Chair

Do you know who your landlord is?
If not, click here for more information on how to find out.

Want to check your landlord's housing code compliance?
Or do you just have some free time on your hands? Check out the following Housing Code Checklist. If you notice any issues, remember you have a right to unionize.

For more information on unionizing (either joining a pre-existing tenants union or building one with your neighbors), check out the Greater Boston Tenants Union here.

Have you joined our GroupMe?
If not, click here to stay updated on important events and communications.


Sign up for City Life/Vida Urbana’s Action Alert emails!
Stay up-to-date with City Life’s organizing by joining their mailing list here. City Life sends out emails in both English and Spanish with time-critical event information.

Job Resources!
The UCLA Prison Law and Policy Program has created a very helpful list of organizations and open positions for students interested in working with and advocating for incarcerated folks. Find the job search guide here. In addition, the Immigration Law and Policy Society has compiled a list of immigration employment and internship opportunities. You can access the running list here, and they will be updating the list throughout the semester. The OutLaw Summer 2025 Job Search Supplement can also be found here, and the Women's Law Association 1L Handout can be found here! We will make sure to send more resources your way as they become available. Make sure to stay on top of deadlines for the summer public service funding application. We recommend you apply for funding even if you have not acquired a job yet, as outside funding can make a potential intern more appealing to some PI employers (reach out to them directly, even if there are no listed openings, and introduce yourself!).

Looking for the Progressive Equivalent of FedSoc?
BU Law has its very own chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG). "The National Lawyers Guild is a progressive public interest association of lawyers, law students, paralegals, jailhouse lawyers, law collective members, and other activist legal workers, in the United States." In particular, the "Massachusetts Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild works to change the structure of our political and economic system. We seek to unite the legal community with organizers and activists in the service of the people, to the end that human rights shall be regarded as more sacred than property interests." To get involved with the BU chapter, click here or reach out to Eliza Thorpe.

Thanks for this email!